A little more than twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
